OFFSTAGE: Hayden Panettiere Is Ready for Nashville

(CMT Offstage keeps a 24/7 watch on everything that’s happening with country music artists behind the scenes and out of the spotlight.)

Actress Hayden Panettiere isn’t just going to play the part of Juliette Barnes when the new ABC drama, Nashville premieres Wednesday (Oct. 10). She’s going to sing the part, too. She will be providing her own vocals on the country music series, and it seems like she is a natural. “I always said if I was ever going to do music again, I’d do country,” Panettiere told Women’s Health
magazine. “There’s honesty and truth in it.” Panettiere has mostly done pop songs for Disney soundtracks in the past, but some of her favorite singers in real life are the Dixie Chicks, Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum, Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean. In the new TV series, her character’s album is titled All My Angels, so the show’s costume designer will have her in all kinds of short pink and white dresses, dangly sparkly earrings and 5-inch Jimmy Choos. Panettiere got her acting start in soap operas like One Life to Live and Guiding Light, so I’m sure she’ll fit in perfectly in this role about what really goes on behind the scenes in Music City.